At the time of the sighting police made thorough inquiries into the sighting and were completely satisfied that the girl was not Madeleine McCann.

New Zealand police

The girl in New Zealand apparently had similar features to Madeleine, and British cops asked for a DNA sample to confirm whether it was her.

Now police in New Zealand have confirmed that it is a case of mistaken identity.

Detective Inspector Steve McGregor said: "We have received confirmation from Scotland Yard that a DNA sample provided voluntarily from a girl mistaken as missing British girl Madeleine McCann on New Year's Eve in Queenstown last year does not provide a match for that of the missing girl.

"At the time of the sighting police made thorough inquiries into the sighting and were completely satisfied that the girl was not Madeleine McCann."

A Scotland Yard spokesman confirmed that following the DNA submission police were "satisfied" that the girl identified in New Zealand was not Madeleine.

The "sighting" on New Year's Eve in Queenstown, on New Zealand's South Island, was the second time the girl was mistaken for Madeleine last year.

Madeleine was nearly four when she disappeared from her family's holiday apartment in Praia da Luz in Portugal's Algarve in 2007 as her parents dined at a tapas restaurant with friends nearby.